Two weeks old and already broken

[anmanija]

Hello. I am a brand new member and I am hoping for some help.

I got a First Edition Terramar two weeks ago. Fantastic car. Some errors and niggles cropped up and I was unable to get any help/answers/suggestions from Cupra. Ditto the dealership. Now, an error has cropped up with the headlight range (?) and the nearside headlight is not functioning at all.

I called the dealership again but they cannot look at the car until the end of May. The only alternative, they say, is to get the roadside assist out. I can't help but feel that would be a waste of time.

I am not sure what I am expecting from posting this, and of course any advice will be very gratefully received. But I am astonished, frankly, that the official support from Cupra is so poor, almost non-existent. Nobody at head office, or on Cupra assist or at the dealership knew anything about it, and had no ideas. Meanwhile my car is undrivable after dark, for at least the next six weeks.

Moan over.

 

[East Yorkshire Retrofits]

If you get roadside assistance to come out, you may find the dealer can suddenly get you in much sooner

Had a customer recently who couldn’t get an appointment for over a month yet after being recovered by ŠKODA assist they got him in the same day with collection the same evening with it all covered under warranty

 

[anmanija]

Wow. Maybe I will try, in that case. Thank you.

 

[Syphon]

Agree re roadside assistance but insist on a CUPRA / VW Technician not the AA. I've had a great experience with these guys.

 

[anmanija]

Thank you, Syphon. So when I call Cupra and they offer to send the roadside assist, it's going to be VAG rather than just any old breakdown company?

 

[Syphon]

Thank you, Syphon. So when I call Cupra and they offer to send the roadside assist, it's going to be VAG rather than just any old breakdown company

They use the AA from my experience but will give you the option to wait for a VW technician if you'd prefer. They may take longer but know their stuff.

 

[anmanija]

Excellent information. I really appreciate your help.

 

[Syphon]

No worries. Keep us posted.

 

[jim64]

Sorry to hear. Keep us posted.

 

[anmanija]

With thanks to Syphon in particular, and everyone else as well, I got VAG roadside assist out who did a diagnostic and decided that it needs to be booked in to my dealership. Should be in a matter of days.

Side note, because it's motability i had to go through the shebang again with rac who were just as brilliant as VAG and also got it booked in.

Cheers all. I am honestly very grateful.

 

[Tell]

Yes warranty work has to be authorised centrally which costs Cupra / Seat. If they can spin out not doing it which seems to be the case, it saves them picking up the tab. The VW engineers diagnose the issue and short the blockage out. Probably the accountants controlling the spend at HQs rather than the engineers. That seems to be the case.

Your local dealer may be busy or not. Certainly these issues have been reported on the boards and how to get the work done using VW call out. My neighbour got trapped in a diesel regeneration warning issue. Central Seat would not authorise the warranty work. They had to take the car back in six times to get the warning light reset before Seat authorised the work. Similar had been reported on the board where VW home engineers sorted it out. I told them to make a call out. They stuck with the route Seat HQ had mandated. Come in. Clear the fault, send us the data before we give the OK to replace the parts. Six resets. Out of warranty you'd just pay up yourself. As I've done and get it over.

 

[anmanija]

Yes warranty work has to be authorised centrally which costs Cupra / Seat. If they can spin out not doing it which seems to be the case, it saves them picking up the tab. The VW engineers diagnose the issue and short the blockage out. Probably the accountants controlling the spend at HQs rather than the engineers. That seems to be the case.

Your local dealer may be busy or not. Certainly these issues have been reported on the boards and how to get the work done using VW call out. My neighbour got trapped in a diesel regeneration warning issue. Central Seat would not authorise the warranty work. They had to take the car back in six times to get the warning light reset before Seat authorised the work. Similar had been reported on the board where VW home engineers sorted it out. I told them to make a call out. They stuck with the route Seat HQ had mandated. Come in. Clear the fault, send us the data before we give the OK to replace the parts. Six resets. Out of warranty you'd just pay up yourself. As I've done and get it over.

The plot sickens...

Yes warranty work has to be authorised centrally which costs Cupra / Seat. If they can spin out not doing it which seems to be the case, it saves them picking up the tab. The VW engineers diagnose the issue and short the blockage out. Probably the accountants controlling the spend at HQs rather than the engineers. That seems to be the case.

Your local dealer may be busy or not. Certainly these issues have been reported on the boards and how to get the work done using VW call out. My neighbour got trapped in a diesel regeneration warning issue. Central Seat would not authorise the warranty work. They had to take the car back in six times to get the warning light reset before Seat authorised the work. Similar had been reported on the board where VW home engineers sorted it out. I told them to make a call out. They stuck with the route Seat HQ had mandated. Come in. Clear the fault, send us the data before we give the OK to replace the parts. Six resets. Out of warranty you'd just pay up yourself. As I've done and get it over.

 

[anmanija]

The plot sickens...

Neither roadside assist actually tried to book the vehicle in. Rac left a report saying that I should avoid driving at night. I raised the point that n/s front indicator is broken as well as the lights and that therefore the car is not roadworthy. No reply.

Garage have explained that they simply cannot do the work any sooner.

Eurocar (through motability) can only offer an mg hs (which i am unable to drive, physically). They say they have no cars. NO CARS.

Motability piling on platitudes but essentially useless.

It's bonkers. What a ridiculous mess. Anyone remember when a headlight could be repaired by, basically, everyone?

 

[Nathan penney]

Gosh, that’s awful, you have a brand new car that you’ve been told ‘just don’t drive at night’ cause they can’t look at it sooner.
It’s not just Cupra either, a friend of mine has an issue with his VW and it’s 3 weeks before they can look at that too.
Hope they sort it soon for you.

 

[Tell]

Anybody would think it's the NHS. 🫣

 

[Tell]

The other avenue is to speak to Cupra Customer Care. They are suppose to smooth things out between the dealers and customers. They might be able to get onto the case or suggest alternatives. Worth a try.

 

[jim64]

The car is expensive. One more reason for them to actually troubleshoot the issue. Escalate it to Cupra.

 

[Tell]

Seat and I'm sure Cupra have a regional liason team which the local dealers are suppose to respect. All that service feed back you give after service goes back to them. Certainly, when I had a misbuild issue the dealer was taking orders from them. Depends whether Cupra HQ has a handle on the dealer to sort out customer issues.